Unemployment extension checks finally in the mail

The state Employment Development Department has mailed out extension benefit checks to “an estimated 109,509 out-of-work Californians who have run out of all other available extended unemployment benefits as of December 5.” In a press release issued Tuesday the Department said eligible claimants should see their first two-week check arriving in the next few days.

The extension took effect November 8 after weeks of congressional wrangling and potential beneficiaries have complained that the Department was taking too long to start delivering the benefit.

The guidelines for the extension are complex. Californians must exhaust all benefits previously available before they become eligible for the extension approved in November — and they must do so before December 27, which is the current federal deadline for filing for any new extensions. The Department estimates that another 55,000 Californians will exhaust benefits between December 5 and December 27 and be eligible for the extension. Enrollment should be automatic.

But many thousands more Californians will be ineligible for the extensions unless Congress acts before December 27 to make the extra payments available in 2010. There are some bills moving to accomplish this but they are not yet law.